The sky had become very dark, heavy with black clouds. Levi stayed with Mr. J. Ar as the others descended the mound.
“Where is he?” Evan whispered anxiously.
“Where’s who?” said Brianna.
“Tannyn! He’s supposed to pick us up.”
“Tannyn! You mean he’s alive?” Brianna exclaimed. Ivy gasped in delight.
“Oh, yeah,” said Evan. “I forgot to tell you that.”
Brianna exploded in a huge grin she could barely contain. Tannyn was alive!
They waited awhile longer, but still Tannyn didn’t show.
“Maybe he ran into one of those black dragons again,” said Evan. “Maybe he’s dead for real now.”
“Don’t say that,” said Brianna. “He can’t be. . . .”
And then the skypod under their feet began to rumble, like the beginnings of an earthquake. The kids looked at each other with similar expressions of concern: what now? One of the mounds near them shuddered, and a Forger burst forth as if it had been shot from a cannon. The kids stared in horror as the Forger landed in front of them, its round red eyes focused on the kids. More mounds shot out more Forgers on all sides. They began to move, forming a circle around the Prince Warriors, who raised their shields and banded together under the protection of the sparkling dome. But the Forgers closed in, forming one huge, impenetrable wall of metal around them.
“Tannyn!” Evan cried. “Come on already!”
And then, in the nick of time, he did.
A green, potbellied shape erupted from the thick bank of clouds, zooming toward them.
“’Bout time you showed up!” Evan shouted.
Tannyn spread his wings and landed with a thud in the middle of the circling Forgers. He opened his mouth and shot a stream of blue fire in a wide circle around the kids, forcing the Forgers backward. Some of them began to melt, their arms fusing together.
“Mount up!” shouted Xavier. The kids quickly scrambled onto Tannyn’s back, taking advantage of his fire breath to keep the Forgers at bay. Finn and Levi helped Mr. J. Ar to his feet and half-guided, half-carried him aboard, stepping up Tannyn’s ridged neck and setting him carefully between two spikes.
“I got you, Dad.” Levi sat behind his father, took off his belt, and wrapped it around the both of them, securing them together.
Finn grabbed a spike in front of Mr. J. Ar. He gave Tannyn a pat on his neck. “All set.” Then to the others: “Hang on!”
Tannyn spread his enormous wings, let out another blast of fire on the Forgers, and shot straight upward.
As he did, two more shapes burst from the clouds above, spiky tails whipping around to release a barrage of deadly thorns.
“Dragons!” Brianna screamed. Finn, who was not holding a book, launched his shield, covering the rest of them. Tannyn spat out more balls of fire, some of them intercepting the thorns, others forcing the dragons to veer away temporarily. But they always returned.
Tannyn swooped low then soared straight up, above the clouds, the black dragons on his tail. He took cover behind a skypod, which was soon embedded with more dragon thorns. He dipped and swayed in and out of clouds, weaving left and right, up and down. He somehow managed to keep just ahead of his pursuers and avoid the deadly thorns. The humans on board could do nothing but hang on. Tannyn flew so fast that the kids felt their cheeks ripple, their eyes blur with tears. All the while, Levi held onto his dad with one hand and the spike with the other, saying over and over, “I’ve got you! Hang on!”
A thorn grazed Tannyn’s wing, causing him to wobble sideways dangerously; the kids felt their legs dangle in nothingness until Tannyn could right himself again. The wing flopped around, broken, and Tannyn began to lose altitude quickly. But he kept flying, pumping the broken wing twice as hard to keep himself in the air. The black dragons surrounded him, one on each side, and flipped up their tails to shoot more thorns. Tannyn let out a blast of fire, folded up his wings and dropped straight down; the two dragons shot their thorns into each other. Both fell from the sky like stones, disappearing into the darkness below.
Tannyn spread his wings, leveling off and banking sharply at the last moment to avoid slamming into the side of a mountain. The kids gasped, hanging on for dear life. Tannyn let out a trumpeting “Gorp!” as he flew into the golden sky over Ahoratos.
“Good dragon,” whispered Levi.
CHAPTER 29
Healing
Tannyn crash-landed in a flurry of wings at the entrance to the Cave. Ruwach was already there, accompanied by a battalion of Sparks that surrounded Mr. J. Ar, lifted him as if he weighed nothing at all, and carried him inside. Levi followed quickly.
Evan, Finn, and Xavier slid down the side of Tannyn’s belly. Evan ran to give him a pat on the nose. “You saved us again, big guy,” he whispered.
Another troop of Sparks hovered over Tannyn’s broken wing, warming and comforting him. Tannyn made a noise that sounded a little like a purr, his eyes fluttering. Ruwach reached out a glowing hand to the wing; soon it was encased in light, the broken bones reknitting, new skin forming over the hole created by the thorn.
When the wing was mended, Ruwach turned swiftly without speaking and disappeared into the Cave.
“Come on, Van,” said Xavier. Evan gave Tannyn’s nose one more hug (he made an exception to his “no-hugging” rule when it came to Tannyn) and followed Xavier, Finn, and Ruwach inside.
Levi knelt by his father on the floor of the Cave. Mr. J. Ar was barely breathing at all now. Sparks hovered all around them both, bathing them in a balmy, soothing light. Ruwach drew near and pressed his brilliantly glowing hand on the metal encasing Mr. J. Ar’s neck.
The metal soon turned red, then white, liquefying. It melted off Mr. J. Ar’s neck, head, and chest, turning to dust that scattered and disappeared. His own rich, dark brown skin looked normal again. He took a full, deep breath—his chest expanding as if it had just been set free from the most brutal of cages.
“Dad,” Levi whispered, relieved. He bent down and hugged his father. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, son,” said Mr. J. Ar, his voice groggy and strained, but strong.
“Thank you,” Levi said to Ruwach, his eyes wet with tears. “Thank you.”
“You are welcome, Prince Levi,” said Ruwach softly.
Mr. J. Ar sat up and touched his son’s face, wiping away the tears. Then he put his hand on his own throat. “Feels a lot better,” he said. “It was like slowly choking to death.”
Ruwach’s hood nodded. “What about that one?” He pointed to a small, metal scar on Mr. J. Ar’s elbow. “You have had that one for many years. Why have you not asked me to heal it?”
Mr. J. Ar bowed his head. “I did not think it could be . . . healed.”
“You do not have, because you do not ask.”
Mr. J. Ar looked at his elbow then at Ruwach. His voice was softer than it had ever been. “Will you take this away?”
Immediately, Ruwach touched the scar with his glowing hand; it, too, melted away, disappearing as if it had never been.
Mr. J. Ar raised his arm so he could see his unblemished elbow with his own eyes. He seemed unable to speak.
“Can you heal me too?” Levi asked suddenly. He stepped toward Ruwach, holding out his finger. The metal tip was all that was left of his ordeal with the Forger that had nearly turned his whole body into metal. A reminder of his disobedience. Levi lowered his gaze, still feeling the sting of that reminder.
“Yes, I will.” Ruwach touched the tip of Levi’s finger with his own. The metal softened, became liquid, and then turned to dust. Levi drew his finger to his face and stared at it, feeling another tear trickle down his cheek. Healed. Made whole. And all he had to do was ask.
Ruwach’s hood turned toward Brianna and Ivy. “I am glad to see you are both returned safely.”
&n
bsp; Ivy looked at the floor. “I can’t believe we were so stupid to believe what Viktor told us.”
“He told us what we wanted to hear,” said Brianna.
“Viktor was just so—dazzling,” Ivy said. “I always thought I would recognize an agent of the enemy when I saw him. Guess I was wrong.”
“Hey, I thought he was pretty cool too,” said Evan. “Turns out he was working for the enemy all along. That kid is nasty.”
Xavier laughed. “You can say that again.”
“Levi was the only one who seemed to know he was up to no good,” said Brianna, her gaze going to him. “And we thought you were the one who was wrong. I’m so sorry, Levi.”
“Me too,” said Ivy. “I’m sorry I said I thought you were jealous of him. I hope you can forgive me.”
Levi nodded, looking a little embarrassed. “Yeah, no problem.”
There was an awkward silence, broken by Evan.
“We got the books anyway,” he said proudly. “Including Mr. Santos’s book. But it looked as though it had been there a long time.”
Ruwach’s hood nodded once. “Yes, very long. Aarón Santos had begun to question the stories in the book long, long ago. They did not make sense to him, according to his own logical thought processes. So, he made changes, small at first, but significant. The enemy took full advantage, casting further doubt on the stories of the Prince Warrior.”
“So how did a true version of the book end up in that warehouse in Skot’os?” Xavier asked.
“The enemy always seeks to displace the authentic books and then encourage the forging of counterfeits so that the swords cannot be infused with the power of the Source.”
“So, we need to get this one back to him, don’t we?” asked Brianna.
Ruwach nodded. “Correct, Princess Brianna. You must return immediately. While you have been on mission here, Ponéros has been very active on earth.”
“The pods,” said Xavier in a low voice.
“They’re open?” said Levi. “Already?”
“Manuel needs you. And his father does too. Go.”
CHAPTER 30
The Unleashing
Manuel got out of his father’s car, staring in astonishment at the hordes of people who had gathered at the skypod site. Workers in hard hats were directing a huge piece of machinery toward the pod. No one was wearing hazmat suits anymore; apparently the pod had been declared safe enough for close contact. A growing crowd of spectators, kept a good distance away by yellow tape manned by policemen, pointed and took selfies with their phones.
Reporters were stationed at intervals behind the spectators, talking animatedly into television cameras and interviewing officials on the site. It was like this was the most exciting event to ever take place in the town of Cedar Creek. Manuel wasn’t sure whether or not it was, but it was the most dangerous. Of that, he was sure.
Manuel focused on the machine. It was a heavy hoist, truck-mounted drill rig, used to break through the densest rock known to exist. His father had told him they had been exceedingly lucky because the drill was found at a local quarry and could be moved fairly quickly. That was why this particular pod had been chosen to be opened first. It was all happening much too fast.
“Papá,” Manuel said as his father got out of the car and started walking toward the drill rig. “Please, don’t do this. You mustn’t open the pod. You know what will happen!”
“Manuel, for the last time, stop interfering. This is science, not . . . fairy tales.”
“Ahoratos is not a fairy tale, and you know it! And those pods are full of Ents. They will destroy everything!”
“Since when are you so imaginative about these things? Don’t you love to investigate? Didn’t you try to break open that seed that belonged to your mother?”
“Yes,” Manuel said, wondering dimly how his father knew about that. “But that was different. I didn’t know what the seed contained. But I do know what this pod contains!”
“And now, the world will know. And I will be the one to show them.” Mr. Santos grinned in anticipation. “I have already been asked to contribute an article to Earth Works magazine!”
“Papá, please, I am begging you!”
“Manuel, you insisted on coming with me to witness this momentous event, and you promised to stay out of the way. Do not break your promise to me.”
“At least tell everyone to leave. All these people. Make an announcement, tell them they should go home.”
“There is no danger, Manuel. The officials have kept the public at a safe distance, and we have conducted thorough tests. No traces of radioactivity or biohazards. Now for the last time, I am telling you to stay out of the way. Do not interfere anymore.”
Mr. Santos turned from Manuel and ducked under the yellow tape, showing a badge so that the policeman would let him through. Manuel pushed through the crowd and ran up to the yellow tape, trying to see what was happening. The operator was maneuvering the drill into position, raising the giant arm so the drill bit was pressed against the side of the pod. Manuel thought he could feel the pod tremble, as if the Ents inside were ignited by their imminent emancipation. Soon, this place would be crawling with them—literally.
Manuel realized to his horror that he didn’t have his armor. He’d forgotten to get it before he left; he’d been so preoccupied with his father and the drill. He did have his seed in his pocket, however, as he never went anywhere without it.
He moved away from the press of people and reporters, wondering what to do. He had an impulse to go up to one of the reporters, take the microphone, and warn everyone watching of the danger they were about to face. Then he imagined his father’s anger if he did such a thing. So, he did the only thing he could think to do in this moment. He lifted his eyes upward toward the heavens and whispered: “Ruwach. Please. Help me.”
“Hey, kid,” said a voice behind him. Manuel whirled to see Rook driving up in the Creekside Landscaping truck. He jumped out and walked over. He was wearing his armor, which shimmered in the slanting sun, transparent, like a hologram. “I see your dad found a drill. That was quick.”
“Yes,” said Manuel. He glanced up at the sky and smiled. Thanks, Ru. Then he turned back to Rook. “I’ve tried to stop him. He won’t listen to me.”
Rook nodded. “Soon as I heard about it on the news I figured we were about to have an epidemic on our hands.” Together they stared at the pod. It seemed like a dead thing, but they both knew better. “Where are the others?”
“In Ahoratos,” Manuel said. “Brianna and Ivy were kidnapped by Viktor.”
“Who’s Viktor?”
“He’s the new student from school. Only he isn’t a student. We thought he was a Prince Warrior, but now it seems he was working for the enemy. He took my book with my sword. I can only hope they make it back in time.”
“Oh, man,” said Rook. “Have you looked around? Maybe they’re already here somewhere.”
“I haven’t seen them.” Manuel scanned the crowd, searching for his friends. His eyes fell upon someone he knew. He almost groaned.
“It’s Miss Stanton!” he said, pointing to the girl in the ponytail, holding a Starbucks cup and taking a selfie with the pod in the background. “What is she doing here?”
“Gawking, like everyone else,” said Rook.
As if she’d heard her name spoken aloud, Mary Stanton caught sight of Manuel and Rook and waved. She rushed over to them.
“Oh, hey guys,” she said. “I was driving home and saw this going on. Kind of cool, huh?”
“No, it isn’t,” said Manuel.
“You probably should get going,” said Rook. “It could get dangerous.”
“Really?” Mary’s eyes got big. “How dangerous?”
“Like turn you into a metal cyborg dangerous,” said Manuel under his breath.
“What did
you say, Manuel?”
“Oh, nothing. But I do think it would be a good idea if you went home. And locked your doors. And made sure your windows were closed. You know, just as a precaution.”
“Why? Is it true there are aliens in that thing?” she asked in a conspiratorial tone. “Like they said on the news?”
“It’s certainly possible,” said Manuel.
They were interrupted by the sound of the drill revving up. The rod spun rapidly as the huge drill bit began boring into the pod.
“Look at that!” Mary exclaimed.
“Do you have your shield on you?” Manuel whispered to Rook.
“Sure.”
“Good. I think you’re going to need it.”
Manuel watched, holding his breath, as the drill bored into the pod. At first it seemed to make no indentation at all, then all of the sudden it broke through, sending up a torrent of debris, pebbles, small stones, and flaky dust. A gasp fluttered through the crowd, and then it grew hushed. Waiting. The drill continued to go deeper into the pod. The operator increased power, making the rod spin faster.
Manuel braced himself, whispering: “Ruwach. Help. Ruwach. Help.” And then, because it’s what he always did when he was scared out of his mind, he started counting in his head: One, two, three, four, five . . .
The drill suddenly stopped, as if it were stuck. The operator tried again and again to get it started but had no luck. The men in hard hats on the ground waved their arms frantically. The operator shrugged his shoulders.
The crowd began to babble about this new development.
“What’s going on?” asked Mary.
“Probably broke the bit,” murmured Manuel. He felt a small sliver of hope—perhaps the drill hadn’t gotten in far enough to release any Ents. Perhaps they were safe after all.
“Look!” Rook pointed as a thin ribbon of white smoke drifted out of the hole the drill had made in the pod.
“Is it Ents?” said Manuel, pushing up his glasses to see better.
“I don’t think so,” said Rook. “Looks like smoke.”
The Prince Warriors and the Swords of Rhema Page 17
